Another Season with Belt and Crawford

Perfection, All-Stars and Trash-Talk – Brandon Crawford

I haven’t posted anything since Matt Cain’s perfect game so I’ll write about it now.

I was probably the most nervous I have ever been in a game. More nervous than my opening day in Milwaukee.

I watched the game from the dugout for six innings then went in cold in the seventh. You know you can’t make a mistake. I told myself just to breathe. The first play of the inning was the shot to Gregor Blanco who made what might be the most spectacular catch ever. So then I’m thinking, “Oh, jeez, now I really can’t mess up.’’ If he makes that superhuman play, I better get to everything – and God forbid I bobble something straight at me.

Then it was the top of the eighth with two outs. Cain was four outs from perfection. The ball comes off the bat and it’s a topspin, bouncing grounder up the middle. My ball. I watched it come toward me, making sure I got the right hop, not an in-between hop. So I backed off a little bit, got it and didn’t even think about the throw. I had made that throw a hundred times so just let it go. When Belt caught it, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

Afterward, you’re just so happy for Matt and you’re so happy for the team because a perfect game is a full team effort. I wondered what Buster must have been thinking. Most catchers go through their whole careers and feel really lucky if they get the opportunity to catch a World Series game or a perfect game — and Buster has done both and he’s only 25 years old. That’s pretty crazy.

In the clubhouse, we probably watched the replay of Blanco’s catch about 50 times, switching from MLB network to ESPN to Comcast. We kept asking him, “What were you doing there?’’

None of us will ever forget that night.

Here in Oakland, I haven’t gotten a hit these past two game, but I’ve had some really good at-bats recently. It’s a boost of confidence when you get timely hits off some of the best pitchers in baseball — Felix Hernandez in Seattle and Jared Weaver in Anaheim.

Having said that, I know it’s not my hitting that has pushed me into the top five among shortstops in the All-Star voting. It’s all about the San Francisco fans. I know I don’t deserve to be there numbers-wise, but it’s pretty cool to see my name on the list. It’s awesome that the fans are showing me so much support.

I spent Thursday’s day off in Los Angeles with Jalynne’s family. In fact, I stayed with Jalynne at her parents’ house during the series against the Angels. They’re night owls so they were always awake when I got home from the game. So it was almost like having a home series. They live near Newport so we spent Thursday out on the water. We fished, in that we had a fishing line dangling from the boat, but we didn’t catch anything and didn’t care. It was just a great relaxing day.

On our last day off at home Jalynne and I took my two sisters to Marine World as a celebration of their graduations – one from high school and the other from middle school. We got “back stage’’ passes so we could see the animals up close. They loved it.

Brandon Belt mentioned in his post about wearing his baseball pants old school – just below the knee. I used to wear them like he does. But about halfway through my sophomore year in college, I tried wearing them down over my shoes and it was so much more comfortable. You don’t have that elastic band squeezing your calf. When you have big calves like I do, it can get uncomfortable. In spring training, you get measured so your pants will be just how you like them. If you want them over the shoe like most of the guys wear them now, it’s called “open bottom’ – they take the elastic out of the hem and flare the bottoms so they’ll fit over the shoes.

On a completely unrelated note, someone asked me what I talk about when they see me chatting with an umpire or an opposing player during a pitching change. It can be about anything, from the weather to something that happened in the game. Last year, a veteran umpire told me that a play I had made earlier in the game was one of the best he’d ever seen. The same guy this year told me that I’d made a hard play look easy and how good I am defensively. So that was nice to hear.

As for players, if I know him we’ll talk about family or what we’re doing after the game. When we were playing Texas, Josh Hamilton was on second and just started talking to me. I’d never talked to him before, and I’m thinking kind of like a fan – like, “Wow, this is Josh Hamilton.’’ He asked how I was doing and then told me not to hit him any more pop-ups in left field. He had lost the last one in the sun and missed it. I laughed and told him I was trying not to. He seemed like a pretty nice guy.

Unlike football and basketball, there’s not much trash talk in baseball. It’s not like the runner on first is taunting the pitcher about stealing on him. The only times you hear some talk is if a batter gets hit and a team think it’s intentional. Then there will be some back and forth. Or if a guy shows up your pitcher when he hits a home run. There might be a few words greeting him when he comes around third.

I generally don’t say much, but I got into it with another player just this past November in the fall league. It was the last week of the league. Everybody’s pretty tired. A guy slid really hard through the bag at second on a double play. Joe Panik was playing second base and could have gotten hurt. Those games don’t count for anything, and that kind of slide was really out of line. I said to the guy, “Hey, take it easy. It’s November.’’ And he tried to be Mr. Tough Guy. So we chirped back and forth a little bit. If you try to take one of our guys out, I’m going to say something.

Everyone’s looking forward to getting back to our own park with our own fans – though playing in Oakland seems almost like a home game. There seems to be as much orange in the stands as green and gold.

Obviously the series this week against the Dodgers is a huge one. Sweeping our cross-bay rivals would a great warm-up to sweeping our division rivals.

22 Comments

To both of you… What has been the most difficult part about transitioning from minors to majors? Keep up the good work! My son was your waiter at Mc Coveys and he said you were both really nice. But… Brandon Belt is the better tipper :-)

I like hearing from you. You are a joy to watch, and I saw how serious you were with that throw. Unfortunately, perfect isn’t common, but it is nice when it happens. My buddies and I are really rooting for you, and one commentator-I forget who-said you were almost Vizquel-esque. Now that’s a compliment!

Hey Brandon – thanks again for a great post. The All-Star voting is awesome because it allows fans to show their support for players in a tangible way. The SF Giants fans are voting for you because we believe in your talent and your ability to help out the Giants for years to come with your consistency and great defense. Saw you make some great plays (offensively and defensively) when you guys were in Seattle too! Keep up the great work and keep blogging!

I thought of a question I’m hoping you guys will answer in your next blog.. as a runner and someone who enjoys being an athlete, what do you guys do to keep yourself in shape during the season (health, diet, working out?) – I imagine you don’t have a lot of time but I’m curious to know if this is a priority for most major league players. Does it vary on the off-season? Thanks again for taking the time to write !

Hey, I really like yours and Brandon Belt’s blog. Its cool because I have played in a couple of softball tournaments against your dad’s team, Pleasanton Phantom. We should be playing them again soon. Well good luck this season, I am rooting for you!

Hey Brandon, I’m really loving the blog. I have a question since you were talking about player-player trash talking. What about the crowd? How much are you guys really hearing from the fans (or not) and how does it change how you’re feeling? I’m an actor and I know my performances change drastically when we get an audience, is that the same with sports? And I have always wondered, do you hear the specific chants? I was in the bleachers on monday’s game against the Dodgers and some guys were yelling at Tony Gwynn and it was close enough for him to hear and I kind of feel bad but are you able to just shut that out? Sorry for the long-winded question, really I just wanna know how the crowd alters your playing. Thanks! -Francesca

Hey Brandon, I’m really loving the blog. I have a question since you were talking about player-player trash talking. What about the crowd? How much are you guys really hearing from the fans (or not) and how does it change how you’re feeling? I’m an actor and I know my performances change drastically when we get an audience, is that the same with sports? And I have always wondered, do you hear the specific chants? I was in the bleachers on monday’s game against the Dodgers and some guys were yelling at Tony Gwynn and it was close enough for him to hear and I kind of feel bad but are you able to just shut that out? Sorry for the long-winded question, really I just wanna know how the crowd alters your playing. Thanks! -Francesca

Great job to sweep Dodgers with shutout … sweetest ever! I live in LA and of course all my friends are Dodgers fans. We go to the Dodgers stadium with my Orange Jersey, I get so much peanuts shell in my back. Dodgers fans have no class. So I have to fly to SF for everly weekend games to cheer my boys in Black & Orange without feeling fear. I can never take vacation because being fan of Giants cost me so much … lol.
I enjoy reading 2-Brandon blog, please let us about our OF Spanish Speaking Trio. Those guys are so great addition to Giants offense.
I want to know what name you guys want to be called from the stand? ‘Brandon’ is hard to yell out … need nickname :)

enjoyed reading both brandon blogs. thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts. we are glad that both of you have more playing time this year. it’s been a pleasure watching this team played and gelled together.

Really enjoy the blog – it’s like getting a behind-the-scenes view. I did wonder what you say to the ump or players when you’re on base. We only get to see short interviews on t.v., so it’s nice to see that you’re as nice of a guy as you seem during the interviews. Makes it that much more fun to be a Giants fan. You DO make difficult plays look easy. One of my favorite things during a game is watching you throw a double play. You are Fred Astaire out there on the field! Very smooth. :o)

Thanks for signing my baseball at National Stadium the other night…I yelled out.”Hey Brandon, I read your blog!!”..I’ve been telling my fellow Giant fans that you are an excellent ballplayer and just need more self confidence before you become a future All-Star player..You didn’t win the MVP award at UCLA for 2 years for nothing..! Moving you to second in the line-up was a very good move..I recruited my NY friend as a Giant fan the other night..She was very impressed with the players interaction with their fans..Keep up the great work…Let’s win the division this year!!!

I’m glad to you answered that question. I’m ALWAYS curious as to what you guys say to the opposing team when you get on base. I always ad lib hahaha and pretend to know what you guys talk about. Now I know! As i told your blogmate, I’m learning so much about the ins and outs of baseball. :) thanks for answering questions and blogging!

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